In the east of Turkey, on the shores of Lake Van, there is a unique geological object. An ancient rock borders the city of Van to the west. In the VII century. BC e. in the Van rock was the residence of the Urartian kings.
How was the unknown civilization discovered?
Exploration of the caves in the rock began in the 1830s. Due to the mistake of the Armenian scientist Khorenatsi, the French archaeologists, who organized the first expedition to the caves, believed that the man-made passages in the granite of the Van Rock were made by the Assyrians.
In 1829, the head of the first expeditionary group, Eduard Schultz, was killed by the Kurds. But he managed to draw up a plan of the rock and copy the inscriptions found on its western slope. At the end of 1840, Schultz's notes were brought to France and deciphered. It turned out that the cuneiform from the rock does not belong to the Assyrian culture and cannot be attributed to the Arabic language, as previously assumed.
Almost 50 years after receiving a copy of the cuneiform records, linguists put forward a version that earlier at the Van rock was the city of Tushpa - the capital of the Urartian civilization. And the writing on the western slope of the rock is a chronicle written by the king of Urartu Argishti I. Most of it was practically destroyed by the explosions of shells in the First World War. For 2 years the city of Van was occupied by Russian troops. At this time, the excavations were carried out by the Russian Archaeological Society. The researchers were incredibly lucky: they found a chronicle that belongs to the pen of one of the Urartian kings Sarduri II.
anchorage at the top of the cliff.
From 2 most valuable documents and cuneiform tablets discovered later, it became known that Tushpa was the capital of the state of Urartu for a long time. During the reign of Rus II, the main city was moved to Rusakhinili, and the coastal rock Van became a defensive outpost.
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What was inside the rock?
The rock near Lake Van, at the foot of which the ancient city of Tushpa was located, was not accidentally chosen as the main citadel of the Urartian state. Its height reached 80 m, along its entire length, vertical and significantly sloping slopes were traced, and the western part of the uplifting ridge went straight to the lake shore.
The current state of the interior grottoes.
The internal passages were so significant that the creators made several gates: Khorhor, Tavriz and others, located in different parts of the fortress mountain. The central Khorhor Gate was intended for horse carriages, the rest could only be entered by foot visitors. Having penetrated the territory of the citadel, it was necessary to overcome a cascade of steep steps. Burial grottoes and a ritual area were carved into the rock. After cremation, the bodies of the deceased were placed in a columbarium.
An ancient ornament has been preserved in the upper caves of the Van Rock. The cold rooms had high ceilings and large spaces. Most likely, there were palace halls and chambers in which the Urartian kings lived. The purpose of many of the more modest rooms and niches is unknown. It can be said definitely that each of them had its own purpose in an extensive cave system.